progressive r and b album, best r and b song, and best melodic performance. >> i think oakland taught me i can never compromise who i am, my heart, my soul, never forget where i came from. i think oakland has a knack for that. i think the entire bay area has so much heart and soul. >> kehlani just finished touring in europe and is planning on attending the grammys. ♪ speak about you yeah ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> announcer: from cbs news headquarters in new york, this is the "cbs evening news." ♪ ♪ >> maurice: the air crash recovery in the cold waters of the potomac is finished for the night. good evening. i'm maurice dubois. >> john: i'm john dickerson. we are devoting much of the broadcast to what's become a rare event in this country, a

major air disaster. an army helicopter collided with an american airlines regional jet as it was attempting to land last night at reagan airport near washington. >> maurice: both aircraft plunged into the potomac. all 64 people on the plane and the three soldiers on the helicopter were killed. most of the bodies have been recovered. >> john: divers will return to the water at daylight. kris van cleave is at reagan airport, and kris, how could this have happened? >> reporter: well, john, one of the many questions ntsb investigators are going to seek to understand here was a decision by air-traffic controllers to move this plane from one runway to another not long before the accident happened. they also want to understand the communications between air-traffic controllers and those army pilots. did they understand where this plane was and where to look for it in time? just before 9:00 last night video shows american flight 5342 from wichita descending towards the nation's capital on what had

been an unremarkable trip. but then a collision a few hundred feet above the icy potomac river. >> crash, crash, crash. this is alert three. crash, crash, crash. >> reporter: the aircraft broke apart into at least three pieces. >> we are looking for an aircraft versus a helicopter in the potomac. >> reporter: first responders police, fire, and coast guard rushed to the banks of the potomac. in the waist-deep water, they found a horrific scene of mangled metal, luggage, and human remains. what they did not find was someone to save. on board flight 5342, a group of the nation's top young figure skaters, their parents and coaches, returning from a skate camp in wichita. >> we are one family, and today we are all heartbroken. we are all searching for answers. >> reporter: at the time of the crash, both aircraft were flying at about 400 feet. military helicopters are supposed to stay below 200 feet. and cbs news has learned just one air-traffic controller was managing helicopter traffic and

some airplane traffic, a job normally done by two people. the crash shut down the busy washington reagan national airport until midday today and shattered an unprecedented record of aviation safety. this disaster, the first u.s. airliner crash since buffalo in 2009. we spoke with ntsb board member todd inman. are there any signs that people tried to get out of that airplane? >> we have not seen any indication of that. of course, we are still in a recovery mode. first and foremost to get the perishable evidence and specifically the bodies out. once we get a little bit closer into that, we will be able to better understand the dynamics of what may have happened upon impact. >> reporter: you also have to speak to the families. >> yes. >> reporter: how difficult is that part of this job? >> it's not something i expected.

last night, being at that debris field, i expected to see plane debris. but when you look over and you see those bodies laying, that's someone's family. it could be yours. they didn't expect that to happen. no one expected this call last night. >> maurice: kris, so what do we know at this point about the search for the all-important black boxes? >> reporter: our understanding is late today they were able to recover the black boxes from the airplane. planes have two. one is a voice recorder, one is a data recorder loaded down with information critical to this investigation. they will be taken about a mile from the crash scene to an ntsb lab to be downloaded and analyzed. >> john: kris, you mentioned that the air traffic controller was doing two things at once multitasking, dealing with a helicopter and the plane. how often does that happen and how dangerous is that? >> reporter: well, what's not normal staffing about that situation is it happened earlier than it normally would. this happens at 9:30 or later typically. a supervisor made the decision to combine those jobs.

sources tell us there is adequate staffing to run the airport safely, but in this case, you had one controller doing two jos. >> maurice: okay kris van cleave at reagan national airport tonight thank you. >> john: black hawk helicopters are a common sight in the sky along the potomac. >> maurice: they are built by sikorsky in connecticut, and charlie d'agata at the pentagon tells us they have been a workhorse for the army for almost 50 years. >> reporter: the black hawk was on a training flight a mission similar to those flown every day by army helicopters in the tight air corridors around the nation's capital. >> no excuses, we are going to get to the bottom of this. >> reporter: defense secretary pete hegseth said there was nothing unusual about the flight, which took off from nearby fort belvoir. >> routine annual retraining of night flights on a standard corridor for a continuity of government mission. the military does dangerous things. it does routine things on the

regular basis. tragically, last night, a mistake was made. >> reporter: the pilot copilot, and crew chief ryan o'hara, who leaves behind a wife and a 1-year-old son, were killed. the army said they were all very experienced. former black hawk pilot bradley bowman flew this route along the potomac many times. what are the challenges? >> the area around reagan national airport is one of the busiest, if not the busiest in the nation. and you have these low-level helicopter routes, and it is all in a relatively tight space. >> reporter: it be fair to describe them as routine? >> yes. the day-to-day mission of this aviation unit is what we call priority air transport, to fly vips around, so if you are going to pick up the chief of staff of the army at the pentagon, right and fly him on a night mission you don't want the first time you are doing that to be with the vip in the back so you do these regular training missions to make sure you know your trade. >> reporter: had they been headed to that aircraft maneuverability? >> for sure, it is incredibly maneuverable. you can take a porsche in the sky, very maneuverable, lots of power. they could have maneuvered

quickly if they had seen the problem. >> john: and charlie d'agata joins us now from the pentagon. charlie, you mentioned this was an experienced crew. how experienced are we talking here? >> reporter: well, we understand that one of the crew members 1,000 hours of flight hours. another one had 500. to put that in perspective these are helicopters by military standards, that's quite a lot. helicopters don't spend that much time in the air. but to put it in perspective commercial pilots on a busy year might see about 700 hours. >> maurice: charlie, real quickly here, a lot of people might wonder why would they trade in such a congested urban area? >> reporter: yeah, maurice you know, people have said why didn't you do it to the north or the south, why do it right at the airport? you train for the environment you are in, it has been explained to me. is it dark? is it congested?

is it busy? are there planes coming in? is it the flight path? that is what you train for, and that is where the assessment takes place, and that is why again, routine and repeatedly these assessments take place in these areas. >> maurice: okay charlie d'agata at the pentagon thanks so much. >> john: "cbs mornings" cohost tony dokoupil talk to washington, d.c., fire and ems chief john donnelly. >> maurice: tony asked the cheap how the recovery is going. >> this happened in a spot that is relatively close to our fire boat pier and harbor patrol pier. so the first fire boat was on the scene in 10 minutes. we were all so fortunate that they were on the water. while they didn't see the accident, they understood where it was. if you understand the water, it is a big black spot in the middle of the night. there is no way to see anything other than the buoys. >> reporter: what goes into the recovery from here on out? >> so, there is going to be some salvage operations. we are going to lift all the wreckage out, collect all the wreckage, at the same time that we are getting the rest of the bodies. >> reporter: in addition to leading this team into the water to do what they can, you are also leading the conversation with the victims' families briefing them on the efforts that are being made to recover their loved ones. >> i wouldn't say i am leading

it. i am a support role. this is something that american airlines and the ntsb do together. we are there in support of that operation, and our goal is to answer the questions that the family have with the most honest and truthful answers that we can. >> maurice: as kris van cleave mentioned earlier, victims of the crash included a group of figure skaters. >> john: family members and coaches, as well. here is beth germano of cbs news boston. >> reporter: the rink was empty at the skating club of boston today, after six members from this elite figure skating community were killed aboard the american airlines flight that crashed near washington, d.c. last night. doug zeghibe is the ceo. >> our rink is eerily quiet. coaches are not coming in, kids are not coming in, i think everybody is mourning privately. >> reporter: the club is mourning the of 14-year-old jinna han and 16-year-old spencer lane, two up-and-coming

skaters. han's mother, jin, and lane's mother, christine, were also on the plane, along with coaches vadim naumov and evgenia shishkova. douglas lane lost his wife and his son. >> was just loved by everyone from the adults running the club to the smallest skaters to the people that are, you know competing for a spot in the olympics, they all just adored him. >> reporter: their russian-born coaches naumov and shishkova were married. they won the pairs title at the world championship in 1994 and competed in the winter olympics twice. their son, maxim, a competitive figure skater for the u.s., was not on the plane. >> they grew up in st. petersburg. they learned a very traditional russian style of skating and training. that is something they brought here. >> reporter: today, former olympic ice skater nancy kerrigan, an alumna of the skating club of boston, came to the training facility to lend her support. >> the main lesson i think learned in skating is you get back up. keep on trying.

and even when it's hard, you get bak up. >> reporter: this is not the first time tragedy has struck this club. in 1961, the entire 18-member u.s. figure skating team was killed after their plane crashed as it was landing in brussels. almost half the plane's passengers were members of the skating club of boston according to the ceo. >> i am right here. >> reporter: paul george was part of the club, but was still competing at the junior level so he was not on the plane. >> in 1961, i said that's the day the music stopped, and the same has happened here again. >> reporter: now the coach's son, maxim, was supposed to compete next weekend, but it is unclear if he will skate or if any other events or competitions will be postponed. in the meantime, the club says it is up to individual skaters to decide when they are comfortable to return to the ice. >> maurice: beth germano in boston, thank you. >> john: now some of the top stories from around the world in tonight's "evening news" roundup. hamas released eight more hostages as part of the cease-fire deal.

cbs news captured this image of 29-year-old arbel yehoud looking scared, surrounded by a jeering crowd. israel released 110 palestinian prisoners. >> maurice: at senate confirmation hearings kash patel, the nominee for fbi director, denied he has an enemies list. in his book "government gangsters," he called for the punishment of 60 people he considers part of the deep state. but patel said today there will be no retribution. and tulsi gabbard, the nominee for director of national intelligence, refused to say whether she thinks edward snowden is a traitor for leaking classified documents. >> john: and suni williams whose stay at the international space station has been extended by seven months, is now the world's most experienced female space walker, after logging 62 hours and 6 minutes outside. still ahead on the "cbs evening news," lonnie quinn on the weather at the time of the midair collision and tonight at the recovery scene. >> maurice: plus, an aviation expert tells us about the

challenges of navigating the congested skies over the nation's capital. >> john: and we will have this. >> and i am mark strassmann in atlanta. flying has never been safer, but that midair disaster in washington, d.c., has rattled everyday flyers and exposed risk. that's still ahead on the "cbs evening news." [window slamming] woman: [gasps] [dog barking] ♪ woman: [screams] ♪ [explosion] [explosion] ♪ [lock clicks shut] mike had a heart attack a year ago. but he's still.. ♪ living in the red. with a very high risk of another attack. with his risk factors his recommended ldl-c level should be below 55.

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ask your doctor about farxiga. ♪ ♪ >> john: we want to give you a clearer picture of the area where the midair collision occurred last night and what could have been happening on the flight d >> john: we want to give you a clearer picture of the area where the midair collision occurred last night and what could have been happening on the flight deck of american flight 5342. >> maurice: i spoke earlier with robert sumwalt, former chairman of the national transportation safety board. robert, thanks so much for joining us. so much has been made of the congestion surrounding reagan national. here it is. here is the potomac. other aircraft come up from military installations nearby. what is your take on that? >> well, whether or not it is a factor in this accident will be determined, but i will admit, it does force the helicopters to stay in a very narrow corridor coming down the river. >> maurice: and then you see here is where the helicopter came down the river.

here is where the airplane came up the river. it is not said to have been anything out of the ordinary, at least until near the point of impact. what do you think of that? >> well, i was an airline pilot for 24 years. i have landed on this runway many times. the pilots are going to want to make sure they are on the proper speed and the proper path going into the runway. there is a lot of things the pilots are concentrating on to make sure they are going to land on the runway at the right spot. >> maurice: and runway 33 is a shorter one. let's look at the altitude, as best as you can tell, coming in. that was said to be normal, as %-@? >> well, it looks to me to be a normal descent. they are going to descend about 700 feet per minute, about 300 feet per mile. so a very gentle descent. not unlike any other descent that we would make into any other airport. >> maurice: and when it comes to the investigation, ntsb getting those black boxes and analyzing them, that is job one. >> that's right, because that is going to provide the most direct evidence of what was happening inside that cockpit. >> maurice: and then

air traffic controllers interviewing them and seeing their data, as well? >> well, that's right. the ntsb is going to want to secure the radar data from air traffic control, the pilot-controller communications and they will want to be interviewing controllers and other people. >> maurice: okay robert sumwalt, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> john: lonnie quinn has been checking the weather at the air crash recovery site along the potomac. >> maurice: and at the time of the collision, as well. lonnie? >> well, at the time of the collision, there were no weather problems. winds were light and visibly was perfectly clear. you could see 10 miles. a lot of talk about the water temperature, well, it is cold. it was 36 degrees, going to be 36 degrees tomorrow. the weather problem tomorrow. there is a system we are watching right now and it is currently pushing to places like kentucky, arkansas. it gets to washington, d.c. tomorrow, right during the time of the recovery, that is going to churn the water up visibility becomes less then great, not that it is ever great in the potomac, but it becomes worse tomorrow, and really the big question becomes where do the divers search? the potomac is a tidal river, it actually flows both ways. at the time of the crash, tide

was on its way out, flowing toward the chesapeake. at midnight, it switched its course and actually flows upriver. it does that every 12 hours, so the divers have got to go into the crash site. at times they have to go south other times they got to go north. it is just a big area with poor visibility. i think it is going to take some time, gentlemen. >> john: lonnie quinn with the changing picture. thank you, lonnie. >> maurice: can america's air travel infrastructure handle the growing demand? >> john: the stress on the system is tonight's "eye on america" next. >> john: americans are flying - we won. - [cheering] before you storm the court. ♪♪ >> john: americans are flying it's overtime.

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planes are crowded. our skies are, too. this is a snapshot of today's u.s. air traffic on flightradar24.com. on average, 45,000 commercial planes are en route somewhere every day. this icon represents american airlines flight 5342 approaching washington last night. at what appears to be the moment of midair impact, it freezes over the potomac river, then disappears from the screen shattering much of the flying public's sense of safety. >> it alerted me a lot more. it made my nerves a little bit >> reporter: given that >> reporter: given that congestion in the skies, u.s. aviation has a remarkable safety record. >> it is safer to get on an airplane and go coast-to-coast at 30,000 feet and 600 miles an hour than it is to drive yourself to the airport at 60 miles an hour with four wheels on the ground. >> reporter: kit darby is a retired commercial and military pilot who now consults for businesses hiring pilots. he has flown in and out of

washington's reagan national airport for years. >> you've got to hit your spot. you know, you've got to do a good job of being a pilot to fly successfully to that airport. >> reporter: trickier than most? >> far trickier than most. >> reporter: not since this disaster in buffalo in 2009 has america seen a major commercial plane crash. that is nearly 16 years, the longest streak in u.s. aviation history. 50 people were killed. since that crash in buffalo, our aviation system has grown more stressed, more tested every day. increased flights, air traffic controller staffing issues climate change, worsening weather, and more objects to avoid in the sky, including private planes and drones. washington's reagan national airport, designed to service 15 million passengers a year now processes more than 26 million. and it's one of three u.s. airports, along with new york's jfk and laguardia, relying on runway slots to limit air traffic. the faa considers those airports capacity constrained. how much of it is reliant on humans getting it right?

>> well, everything has gotten better fast. people, however, remain an issue. seeing, hearing, understanding depth perception, all of those factors are key, and they haven't gotten better as fast as the mechanical things have gotten. >> reporter: another measure of a stressed system, over the last 20 years, reagan national airport has reported at least nine near midair collisions. for "eye on america," mark strassmann, in atlanta. >> john: maurice and i will be back with some final thoughts in a moment. ♪ ♪ >> announcer: this portion of the "cbs evening news" is sponsored by fresh pet. it's not dog food, it's food food.

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which should be treated by a different doctor. see an expert. find a t-e-d eye specialist at isitted.com >> maurice: an update, the black boxes from >> john: >> john: when the founders looked up to the sky they saw only the wonders of the heavens, the sun, the moon, and the stars. now those celestial bodies share the sky with the wonders of man. >> maurice: every day aircraft defied gravity and carry millions of us from one part of america to another safely, an amazing achievement. >> john: but humans are not perfect, nor is our technology. we were reminded of that again when two aircraft that

good evening, i'm juliette goodrich. our dry stretch is coming to an end. tomorrow is a first alert weather day. an atmospheric river set to bring waves of rain to the bay area. we're timing tout next several days anted checking out our water supply. plus as the tragic plane crash in dc puts the spot slight on staffing in airports. here in the bay area, late negotiations to keep one of our airport control towers staffed. a newcomer in the world of ai takes a toll on industry leaders. how china's deep seek rose among the ranks and why some bay area experts say it's a good thing for silicon valley. this is cbs news bay area

with juliette goodrich. >> good evening, let's start with first alert weather and the end to our dry january. the first wave of an atmospheric river headed our way. so let's get to meteorologist paul heggen. >> this will be a long event. let's get into how things are going to evolve. we will take the broad picture perspective. this is futurecast from 10:00 tonight through 10:00 on saturday. we are tracking the first peak of the atmospheric river. waves of heavier rain fall tomorrow night into the first half of saturday. this first one should be winding down. light to moderate rain showers. but things will trend in a less wet direction as we head into the second half of the weekend on sunday. let's add up the rain just through 10:00 on saturday. the amounts range from less than an inch but close to that number in the santa clara valley around san jose. .9 inches to